The Ninetails Saga, part 1 - A Soul Reborn
by Dregenfox
Summary: A young fox girl shows up mysteriously at a family's doorstep. Taken in by the unassuming foster family, the fox girl struggles to learn human culture and language even as tensions between Noxus and Demacia turns into all-out war. **This is a prequel/AU, documenting the rune wars that almost destroyed Valoran before the establishment of the League.
1. Chapter 1

The Ninetails Saga, part 1 - A Soul Reborn

* * *

Chapter 1, the forests near Piltover

The young female kit dashed out far ahead of her mother, eyes narrowed in concentration, intent on tracking down and killing her prey. Her mother let her wander off, watching her happily chase after the mouse into the forest. She had been born only months before, blind, deaf, and vulnerable. The babe had been dependent on her for everything the first few weeks until her little amber eyes finally opened and saw the world for the first time. Now the kit thought nothing of leaving her mother's side and chasing after the first thing that moved.

The kit chased the terrified mouse through the forest, dodging under logs and leaping over small creeks with child-like nimbleness, until the fleeing mouse came up against a natural barrier made of stacked boulders and entangled trees.

Finally, the kit saw that she had her prey cornered, and she eyed the mouse hungrily and bared her tiny little baby teeth at it. She watched as the mouse trembled in fear, and dug itself into the rocks behind him. The young kit readied to pounce, but a loud sound distracted her momentarily, and she turned her head in the sound's direction.

When she looked back at her prey, she saw that it had run off in the direction of the noise. She heard a worried yelp off in the distance, and knew it was her mother calling for her to come back, but the young kit thought only of securing her new little prize, and swiftly chased after the mouse, running through the forest at a furious pace.

The mouse ran under and disappeared into a thick growth of bushes, and the kit followed and burst through it, not wanting to lose track of her prey. She landed upon a large clearing in the forest. The kit sniffed the air expectantly, but there was no trace of the mouse. She scanned the forest floor, but was greeted with only the scene of what had been a ferocious battle. The mouse was nowhere in sight.

Looking around, the kit spied a number of strange bodies lying on the floor. One in particular laid in a pool of it's own black blood, and a magical vortex whirled and pulsated above it. The young kit felt an arcane force that seemed to call to her, begging her to come closer to the vortex. She approached it slowly, wondering innocently what secrets it held.

Without warning, the pulsating vortex suddenly erupted, and countless tendrils of energy appeared and engulfed the young kit, wrapping itself with whip-like force around the creature until it formed an ethereal cocoon-like structure. For what seemed like an eternity the cocoon seemed content to simply exist, pulsating and glowing with an unearthly purple light, but then it shuddered and untangled itself, and from within a human-like girl with two fox ears and nine beautiful tails burst forth and fell onto the earth, unconscious.

-o-o-o-

Upon waking up, the young fox-girl looked around at her surroundings, trying to remember what she had been doing.

...The mouse!

The girl attempted to scramble up on all fours, wanting to continue the pursuit of her prey, but was unable to – everything felt so strange! - and instead tumbled back towards the ground. Bewildered, she tried to get up again, and was met with the exact same result, this time slipping sideways and landing on her shoulder painfully as her limbs splayed out awkwardly. She cried out, but the voice that came out was not one that she recognized. Again she tried to crawl back towards the safety of the forest – her mother would surely be waiting there for her! – and this time managed to lurch forward clumsily a few feet before tumbling wildly back onto the ground. She did not try to get up again this time. Instead she sat there on all fours, panting heavily, and as her initial shock and confusion began to give way to rational thought she began to realize that something was horribly wrong. Her body was entirely unrecognizable to herself, and her paws had turned into long, skinny limbs with exposed skin that had a foreign hue of milky white cream. She looked at the bodies strewn about on the ground, and realized that her body now resembled those strange looking dead creatures.

The young fox-girl began to feel a stirring panic rise from within herself. Her childlike naivety and innocent curiosity succumbed to the creeping fear of the unknown and unfamiliar, and she felt desperately lonely. Her heart ached for the knowing touch and safety of a mother's embrace.

As the girl sat there and stared longingly towards a forest which now seemed impossibly far away, she saw a bush towards the far side rustle, and from it a fully grown vixen emerged. The girl tried to focus on this newcomer with eyes that felt unfamiliar to her, and in an instant her eyes widened in recognition and she instinctively kicked her legs and hands forward in a desperate effort to draw herself closer to the fox.

-o-o-o-

The mother fox saw the human struggling to get closer to her, but she held her ground. Her black eyes, which betrayed no emotion, remained fixated on the girl before her. She recognized what this creature was. It was a human child, that savage war-like creature that walked on two legs and who took from nature all they desired, using their frightening weapons and tools to ravage the land and it's inhabitants in their petty conflicts, leaving only destruction in their wake. She hated humans – despised them – and yet she could not turn her eyes away from the human girl in front of her. She felt – no, she knew that the girl before her shared her own blood, had begun her life inside of her as just a tiny unrecognizable being, and over months, had developed and grown in the safety of her own womb, and finally had been forcefully ejected out into a vast and unfamiliar world. She had been a miracle – her sisters and brothers had all been stillborn – and whether or not a mother even needed a reason to love her child, that tragedy had only strengthened her belief that her only daughter was special; that she was destined for something more. It was unfathomable to her that her destiny would be to live her life as one of the humans, and yet the girl was still her only daughter, her only legacy.

And so for all these reasons – or possibly for no reason at all except a mother's love – the mother fox bravely approached the human girl, looked knowingly into her eyes, and gave her a loving nudge, encouraging her daughter to get up, to crawl by her own power back into the safety of the forest. This was not an act unfamiliar to the mother – after all, she had gone through this before. Kits must learn to stand before they can walk, and they must learn to walk before they can run.

Looking at the human girl, the mother felt a pang of regret in her heart as she realized that she would no longer be able to raise and provide for her daughter like a true mother should. She was willing to lay down her own life for her without a second thought, but as she watched her daughter struggling to control her long and awkward human limbs, she wondered if that would be enough.

-o-o-o-

The fox-girl stared at those trees and shrubs which stood guard over the entrance to the forest, and – thinking more clearly and rationally now – began to carefully test her new longer limbs to see how they could properly hold her weight. Her mother purred softly to let her daughter know that she was there, and slowly the fox-girl began to put one hand forward, past the other, move one knee forward, and then the other, slowly but surely making forward progress along the forest clearing. As she crawled, the movements began to flow naturally to her, and she was able to now consistently coordinate her movements to crawl steadily forward, and in due time she reached the forest boundary. She saw her mother leap ahead of her and into the forest, and the girl cried out in protest, not wanting to be alone again. She shuffled forward into the forest furiously to keep up.

The sticks, rocks, and leaves littering the forest floor scratched and clawed at her soft human skin, especially at her hands and knees, and occasionally pierced it, causing tiny red droplets of blood to stain the forest floor. The girl was in terrible pain, but she struggled onwards in the direction her mother had disappeared into. She caught a glimpse of her mother darting past a tree in the distance, and crawled towards it, but when she reached it there was no sign of her. Panting heavily, she stopped and leaned her shoulder onto the tree to rest. Her knees and palms were half numb with pain from the abuse she had subjected them to. She started hoping that this was all a dream, that she would wake up and find herself sleeping next to her mother, back in her own fox body, and that she would once again be chasing insects and mice carelessly out into new parts of the forest.

There was a slight rustle next to her, and when the girl looked up, she saw her mother standing there, looking at her intently. She barked sharply at her, and the girl sensed that her mother was chastising her for stopping and giving up so quickly on the chase. The girl looked down at her scuffed and bloody hands, and tried to blink back tears that insisted on coming out anyway, the occasional teardrop flowing out from her eyes and down her cheeks, and dripping down onto the forest floor to mix with the bright red blood. The girl looked at her mother with pleading, tear filled eyes. She just wanted her to come and comfort her, tell her everything would be alright.

The girl watched her mother turn her eyes towards the setting sun, then dart back further into the forest, vanishing into a thick overgrowth of foliage. Wincing in pain, the fox-girl took a deep breath, steeled herself, grabbed onto the trunk of the tree she had been leaning on, and hoisted herself up so that she stood on her own two feet. Ignoring the pain emanating from her palms as she struggled to balance the weight of her entire body, she was able to stand upright, swaying precariously back and forth on her two long legs. The girl felt that she would be able to manage if she could only inch along, ever so slowly, putting one foot in front of the other, moving from tree to tree and grabbing onto them with her hands to keep from tumbling back down. Her hands throbbed, but she didn't care – she didn't want to fall behind this time, and so she continued to shuffle from tree to tree like this.

When she had finally made her way over to the thick foliage her mother had disappeared through, she saw that the line of trees had ended, and that she would have to make the rest of the way on her own. She stared at the mass of overgrown vines and shrubs, half hoping that her mother would once again burst out from them and reveal herself. She didn't.

The girl inched forward, keeping one hand on the tree, her other arm swaying out wildly in an attempt to balance herself. When she had finally reached her limit, with her arm extended fully and fingertips just barely still holding onto the tree, she gently pushed off with her fingers, and started stumbling forward towards the overgrowth, with no crutch to hold onto, balancing on just two skinny little legs. She took small, stilted steps, but made steady forward progress, and she found that this bipedal movement felt oddly natural to her, as if she had a natural talent for it and had been designed to walk like this all along. The girl became aware of her nine tails, which, while still short and undeveloped, served as a counterbalance which helped her keep herself upright.

Upon reaching the soft barrier of overgrowth, the girl lost her patience, and pushed forward with her legs, bursting through the foliage, and tumbled forward, reaching out with her hands to break the fall. A sharp flare of pain shot up from her palms in response, and the girl instantly regretted her rash action, and had to blink back new tears. The girl felt a gentle nudge to her right side, looked that way, and saw her mother there. In her jaws was a freshly killed rabbit, which she laid down next to her daughter. Scattered on the ground were a bunch of random berries. The girl looked at the rabbit, then at her mother doubtfully, and her mother understood and started tearing at the rabbit with her jaws and paw, ripping it's flesh into chunks. She watched as her mother laid out the chunks of flesh in front of her.

The chunks of flesh repulsed her for some reason, but realizing now that she hadn't eaten since that morning, the girl sat up, grabbed some blueberries instead, and stuffed them into her mouth. She had always loved blueberries, but these tasted especially sweet and delicious. She quickly devoured all of the sweet and ripe berries, pressing them delightedly onto the roof of her mouth while chewing to bring out even more of it's tart juice. She wiped away her tears, leaving small smears of blood on her face. She could not help but grin in satisfaction as the emptiness in her stomach abated.

When the girl looked up from her meal, she saw the faint outline of her mother laying in a nearby patch of dirt, asleep. The sunlight was starting to fade rapidly, and the girl found that her eyes had difficulty discerning the gray outlines of the forest, her vision ill adapted to the blackness of the night. The girl crawled slowly next to where she thought her mother was napping, and laid down next to her. The rigors of that day caught up quickly to her young body, and though the girl did not want to, she quickly fell fast asleep, comforted by the presence of her mother beside her.

-o-o-o-

The girl was jarred awake early at dawn the next morning, forced out of her deep slumber by the pestering nudges and bites of her mother. When the girl finally sat up and composed herself, she saw her mother again dart out further into the forest, disappearing from sight. The girl looked at the wounds on her knees and hands, and found that they had scabbed over, and were healing slowly. The girl did not understand why her mother kept urging her to continue deeper into the forest, but her mind was still in that stage of life where a child would follow her mother's orders without question, and so she slowly picked herself up from her sitting position, and carefully stood up, swinging her arms and tails rapidly in circles to keep her delicate balance.

The girl thus was able to transfer herself after some struggle into a standing position, and she became amazed at how it almost seemed natural to her now to stand so high up on her legs like this, as if some part of her brain had always possessed the knowledge of how to walk upright and she was only now remembering that she knew how to do this all along. Still, the girl continued to nurse some doubts in the back of her mind, and she shuffled forward slowly towards the direction her mother had gone, reaching out an arm and grabbing onto every tree she approached in order to check her balance.

She continued on like this for what seemed like hours, her mother darting in and out of sight every few minutes, leading her child onwards on what seemed like a never-ending wild goose chase. As she walked, the girl slowly began to become surer of every footstep, and she fell into a steady – if somewhat odd feeling – rhythm, so that soon she found herself walking more and more by her own power, and electing not to pause at every tree.

As the day wore on, the girl began to wonder why they were traveling so fast and so far. It was not as if she were too tired to go on – the girl by now found that walking on two legs was taking less and less effort – but she had never remembered seeing her mother act so strangely, not even stopping for rest and food. The girl's ears picked up the sound of rushing water, and after walking a short distance she found herself staring at a creek. Her mother sat kneeling by the creek bed, lapping up water with her tongue, and the girl, realizing now that she was incredibly thirsty, kneeled beside her mother, lowered her head into the stream, and joyously slurped up the water.

It was during this time that her mother suddenly stood up, turned around, and let out a threatening growl. The girl heard a strange-sounding yell behind her, and she turned around to discern the source of the sound. She saw two creatures approaching quickly towards where she and her mother stood, and her eyes widened in fear as she remembered what these creatures were. They were of the same type she had seen in the clearing the other day! The girl noticed that the two men wore a distinctive symbol on them, that of a flaming blue sun.

The two men, upon reaching the stream, slowly approached the mother, and the taller one brought up a weird looking tool and pointed it at the fox. The girl saw clearly and vividly what happened next, and the scene would later burn itself into her psyche, becoming a part of her memory and self-identity that would stay with her for the rest of her life.

-o-o-o-

With a fierce rustling of leaves and foliage, the mother charged with determined speed and quickness at the taller man and, letting out a ferocious bark, leaped up towards the man and clamped her jaws into his arm as he brought it up to defend his body, causing the man to cry out in pain and surprise. In a flash, the man's partner responded by drawing out a long, razor-sharp blade and swiped it horizontally at the fox, cutting a deep, mortal gash across the length of her body that caused blood to gush out uncontrollably.

The vixen yelped pathetically, released her grip on the man's arm, and dropped to the ground, staying motionless. The shorter man raised his sword, then sliced it downwards at the fox's neck. In her last moments, the mother stared at the incoming blade, thought of her daughter who would now be alone against these two humans, and wished desperately that the world would look upon her child with pity and show her mercy.

-o-o-o-

The fox girl sat there next to the creek bed, and did not move her gaze from her mother. The swordman sheathed his blade, and then the two approached the girl. She did not know what to think, and instead looked up at the two men apathetically. She watched as the swordman drew up next to her, and reached for his blade, as if desiring to finish the job he had started with her mother. The taller man brought a hand up to stop him, and uttered a strange speech to his partner. His partner relented and drew back, and the taller man approached the girl, uttered some more strange speech, spit into her face, then drew his hand back and struck the girl's head violently, causing her to spin and fall backwards into the ground.

The man dragged the the still conscious girl to a tree, and propped her body up next to it's trunk. He kicked at the defenseless girl with his boot several times, then laughed and kneeled down, stared admiringly at the girl's body, and brought his hands up to her breasts and fondled them. He grabbed the girl's head and twisted it upwards, forcing the girl to look the man in the eyes. He brought his hand up to her battered face, and wiped off some of the blood while chuckling contentedly to himself. The innocent girl did not comprehend anything that happened after, and simply waited for death to come, so that she could join her mother once again. Was her mother really dead? She didn't want to think about it, but she already knew the answer to that question. As the man continued to abuse her, she found herself staring past his lustful eyes and into the lush forest canopy above, watching the bits of brilliant blue that burst through where the leaves parted, opening a tiny window into the tranquil skies beyond. She wondered whether she would see anything as beautiful when she was dead and with her mother in the afterlife.

A loud, unfamiliar voice suddenly resounded through the forest, and the tall man released his grip on the girl, stood up, and watched as a new third man approached the pair. He was dressed in a brown cloak that shrouded his face, and he carried a small hammer on his his back. He wore on his chest the same symbol of a flaming blue sun. The cloaked man uttered a few harsh words at the taller man, upon which they began arguing back and forth with each other for several seconds. The cloaked man suddenly yelled in anger, then strode forward and struck the taller man so violently that he lurched back and fell to the ground, half conscious.

The girl stared at the cloaked figure absently as he approached her, kneeled down, and looked at her. The girl thought his eyes looked so sad and regretful. He looked back at the corpse of her dead mother, uttered something incomprehensible to her, then looked down and drew out a long, sharp knife. He pointed the tip at her neck, then began to utter a few more words in a pitying tone. The girl was still in a stupor and stared at the man blankly, not caring what happened to her, but something stirred in the back of the girl's mind, and she thought she could almost understand what he was saying. She heard the word "mother", and her eyes widened as she finally understood what that word meant. She felt her throat tingle, and her mouth open, and heard a strange sound escape her throat.

"Mmmo...ther..."

The girl suddenly felt a fire fill her body from within, and an incredible energy grab control of her body. The cloaked man's eyes widened in fear. He looked past the girl, and saw the taller man standing there, his crossbow aimed at his heart. The girl felt a glow of energy from her hands, and she instinctively reached up and fired a ball of essence energy at the cloaked man. The man drew back and dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding both the ball of energy and the arrow that had been aimed at his heart.

The girl let out a rage-filled scream, then scrambled up with unholy vigor, leaped at the taller man next to her, and forcefully dug her fingers into the man's eye sockets. The tall man screamed in agony. She felt energy coursing through her arm and into her fingers, and the man's eyes began to steam and burn with a brilliant blue glow. The man let out one more hideous scream, then tumbled over backwards. She drew her fingers out from the man's eyes, and his body began to overheat and burst into flames. The man moaned in terror and struggled wildly, screaming and shouting obscenities as his body was consumed by the mysterious blue flames.

The girl whirled around, and leaped with blinding speed towards the sword man who was responsible for killing her mother. She bounced high into the air, looked down at her prey, and dived down, aiming to slice the man's throat open with her bare fingers. The man stared in terror at the fox-girl, then grabbed his scabbard desperately. Having no time to draw his sword out, he braced himself, then swung the scabbard at the girl as she crashed down on him. The impact sent them both tumbling backwards into the ground. The girl placed a hand around the man's neck, and her hand began to emit a dull blue glow. The man, fueled by pure adrenaline, pushed himself back onto his knees, and battered his fists blindly at the girl in an attempt to free himself. The girl let out an angry growl, then pushed the man off her with frightening strength, sending him flying backwards several feet.

The man landed on a patch of soft earth, and, without even looking back at his foe, struggled onto his feet and began stumbling forward into the forest in a desperate attempt at escape. The girl was about to follow, but was cut off by the cloaked man, who had now drawn out his powerful hammer and moved in between the fleeing man and the fox-girl. Their eyes locked for a moment, and then the man grunted and swung his hammer downwards, emitting a thundering shockwave that tore the earth beneath it apart as it traveled towards the girl. With no time to react, the girl watched as the shockwave blew past her, barely missing her and instead hitting a tree behind her, tearing the outer bark of the tree apart and sending shattered shrapnel everywhere.

Terrified by the awesome display of power from the cloaked man, the girl suddenly felt the instinctive urge to call out for her mother, who she knew could no longer help or comfort her. The girl struggled to suppress those feelings, and instead turned and ran back into the forest as fast as she could. She heard the man call out from behind her, as if he wanted her to stop, but she ignored the call and kept running.

The girl leaped and ran through the forest rapidly, ignoring the burn in her muscles, thinking only of getting herself as far away from the three men and the memory of her mother as possible. She did not understand what had happened to her back there, and could only feel that some sort of repressed memory had awakened inside her, and that she now possessed strange new powers.

The girl continued to leap swiftly through the forest, traveling rapidly at an impossible speed, running away from things she did not understand. Wayward limbs and tree leaves slashed at her exposed skin as she dashed past the thick forest of trees, but she did not feel any pain - only terror and the surges of adrenaline that bade her to keep running until she could run no more. After a while, the trees slowly began to thin out and became more sparsely populated until it finally yielded to a plain country field covered with short green grasses that extended far into the horizon. The girl finally began to slow her furious pace. She did not know how long she had been running, but she could feel her body beginning to shut down from exhaustion.

Ahead of her, she spotted atop a gently sloped hill what looked like a large wooden structure with doors and windows, and fences, inside of which contained various strange animals she had never seen before. Standing a ways from the house were two humans, a male and a female, who stood there with their hands clasped together, seemingly staring in shock at the strange fox-girl approaching their home. The girl by now had spent the last remaining reserves of her strength running from whatever it was she was running from, and was covered in bruises, cuts and wounds. She looked at the two humans bitterly, and suddenly felt regretful that she had not stayed with her mother instead and accepted whatever fate awaited her back in the forest. For a moment she considered whether she had the strength left to either fight or flee - then, without warning, the world began to spin slowly, and the girl's knees began to buckle. The memories of all that had happened that day rushed up and and haunted her visions, and as her last reserves of strength drained away and she collapsed onto the earth, the shrill wail of a terrified and broken girl filled the air, followed by a chilling and sudden silence.

-o-o-o-

Henry and Margaret Walker, husband and wife, both walked up towards the naked and unconscious fox-girl, hands clasped together, unsure of what lay before them. The husband walked up next to the girl and kneeled down. He looked the girl over, then looked up at his wife, who had her hands over her mouth, taking pity on the broken girl that laid there before her. She nodded as if sending a silent communication to her husband of over 20 years, and the man looked out over the Piltover countryside, wondering how this fox-girl had made it to their home in this condition, and just what the heck his wife was thinking to want to bring her in. He bent over and picked the girl up with both hands, walked back to their humble country home on the outskirts of Piltover, and went in. His wife shut the door behind them.

End Ch 1


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

The fox girl opened her eyes to darkness. Was she dead? She tried to open her mouth to utter something - anything - but nothing came out. She moved her eyes right, left, up and down. Not a single source of light to be found anywhere.

So this was what death felt like. No sight. No sound. Nothingness. There wasn't any afterlife, no shining sanctuary where the dead could wake up and rejoice at their discovery of an existence after death. This was oblivion, and this was what she and her mother had been condemned to for eternity.

Her Mother!

The girl reached out into the void with her arms, desperately searching for something.

No, not something. Someone.

Her mother was somewhere out there - she had to be. The girl refused to believe what her mind was telling her. But she could neither cry out nor feel anything. How would she ever find her in this darkness?

The girl could feel her thoughts begin to cloud. Where was she? Was she alive after all? A spark of blue light streaked across her vision, and for a fleeting moment the girl felt a power grow from within her. The same power she had felt earlier in the forest. It was as if a fire had sparked inside her belly, furiously growing larger and stronger as if afraid of being snuffed out by a gust of passing wind. It seemed to fill her chest with warmth, spurring the girl to take a sudden, deep gasp of air. Heavenly air! She could still breathe - she wasn't dead after all!

The blue streak appeared again, and the girl sensed a wave of euphoria and contentment wash over her. She felt one with the earth. Her loneliness seemed to fade away and she began to feel a connection with the earth, and every living being in it. Maybe she was the earth. That would be something interesting to tell her mother, indeed!

...Tell her what, exactly? The girl began to feel a little confused. Had she turned back into a fox? Or was she still one of those tall creatures with those long, spindly limbs? Maybe she was still dreaming? The girl brought her hands to her face and ran her fingers through its contours. No. She definitely wasn't a fox. She could feel her long arms, those weird fingers that seemed to move with such dexterity and precision. She was one of _them_.

In an instant, the girl recalled the bloody image of her mother's corpse, its body sliced open and twitching, the severed head falling with a thud onto the floor and staring at nothing with half closed, empty eyes. The image was so sharp and pristine in her mind. Was this how *_they_* thought? Her mind could recall every image and emotion of that day with a clarity she had never before experienced in her existence as a fox.

The girl's mind continued to race with images of anything and everything. The fire inside her that had filled her with warmth seemed to grow smaller and colder, suffocated by the encroaching vastness of her own mind - a flurry of uncontrollable thoughts and emotions. The girl wanted to scream out, begging and pleading for that mysterious blue light to appear and fill her with comfort once again. But nothing came. The girl struggled to twist herself this way and that, desperately seeking to end this nightmare, or whatever it was.

_If she was dead, just let her sleep in peace! Anything was better than this nothingness!_

-o-o-o-

Margaret Walker sat quietly on a stool in her son's bedroom, staring intently at the little girl before her. Nine fox tails, and two fox ears. She was undoubtedly one the ferals.

Henry had warned against helping her. Gwylts - or in layman's terms, ferals - were known to be unpredictable. Especially in this case, the girl was obviously being hunted or chased by someone, or something, which could only mean trouble if the hunter was able to track the girl down to their home.

Margaret knew Henry was probably right, but she just couldn't find it in her heart to leave such a young girl to die, feral or not. When she had brought her in, the girl was a mess of blood, sweat, and tears. Her face had been battered and broken, her legs and feet covered in bloody gashes, and it looked like she hadn't eaten in days. Everything about it just looked wrong.

"Let me help her survive, at least," she had told him. "She's in no position to hurt anyone, and we can decide what to do once she's out of danger. Would you rather we cast her out and let her die to exposure?" Henry, being the secretly soft hearted man she knew him to be, had reluctantly agreed to her plea after some consideration. Thus Margaret had ended up becoming the temporary caretaker of the fox girl, trying to help her in any way she possibly could.

Although Margaret was no doctor, she knew enough from life and raising her son that wounds this extensive and exposed to the elements were liable to become infected. She had tried her best to clean and wrap the girl's wounds immediately after taking her in, but within a few hours the girl had begun to develop a strong fever. Margaret had spent an entire sleepless night watching over the girl, undressing infected wounds, cleaning the pus and dead material with water, and redressing them. The wounds by themselves did not look fatal, but in the girl's weakened state, the combination of infection, fever, and blood loss still posed a serious threat, and Margaret had been forced to keep the girl's temperature under control by constantly shedding the heat off with a bevy of wet towels that had been soaked in lukewarm water. These tasks had basically taken up the entire night, and part of the morning as well.

In her intense concentration Margaret barely noticed the sound of a door creaking open, and her husband walking in. She continued to dote over the girl, slowly lifting a patch of fabric she had ripped up that had been covering a nasty gash below the girl's left eye. The wound had scabbed, but was blood red and swollen.

"So how's it doing, Maggie?"

Her husband walked up behind her to take a peek at the girl's condition.

Margaret murmured something inaudibly in response. She picked up a pad of cotton dipped in alcohol and cleaned the wound under the girl's eye. She then ripped a fresh piece of fabric, applied some sticky ointment to it, and applied the makeshift bandage over the cut.

"I'll look after the feral for a bit, alright? You need to go get some rest," her husband said.

"I'm worried, Henry. Her wounds seem to be healing better now, though the cut on her face will likely leave a scar. But her fever doesn't seem to be getting any better."

"I know you're worried, Maggie, but there isn't much you can do for her now." Henry placed a hand on his wife's shoulder and squeezed, hoping to get her attention. "I'll make sure to re-wet the towels and try to keep the fever under control. I'm not a miracle worker, but I can do that, at least."

Margaret got up from her stool, and stared down at the girl. She seemed to be sleeping more quietly now, which reassured her somewhat. She felt a sudden wave of fatigue wash over her, and sighed to herself. "I suppose I'll go and get breakfast ready, then get some sleep after."

"There's no need. I already made some potatoes and eggs. I left some for you also."

"Thanks, Henry. Call me if she wakes up, ok?" Margaret gave her husband a kiss on the cheek, then started to head out of the room. She suddenly stopped by the doorway, however, and turned back. Something had been bothering her.

"Henry -"

"I've got it, Maggie. Just go eat already."

"No, it's just - I want to tell you about something weird I experienced last night. While I was trying my best to treat her wounds, the girl suddenly started thrashing about, and reaching out with her arms as if searching for something. I had thought she was just having a little nightmare, but then she started struggling for her breath, as if being suffocated by some unknown force. Not knowing what to do, I reached out and grabbed hold of her arms to keep her still, and whispered a little lullaby into her ear, hoping to calm her down. The girl responded by crying out - it sounded like the word 'mother' - and then she opened her eyes and looked right at me - her pupils had a color of amber and seemed to glow slightly."

Margaret paused for a bit, as if she were suddenly doubting her own words. "I could swear then that I saw a weird blue glow surround both of us, and then - I suddenly felt as if I had caught on fire. I felt as though I would burn up in a blaze of flames, so I let go of the girl and reached out for the water basin in panic. But as soon as I let her go, the feeling just vanished. I looked back at the girl, and she had gone back to sleeping peacefully, as if nothing had happened. It seems silly, but when I think back about it...perhaps I had just fallen asleep and had a nightmare without realizing it. But it felt frighteningly real to me."

Henry pondered Margaret's words for a moment, then chuckled to himself. "The guys would have loved to hear this one. Of course you've never experienced rune-fervor..."

Margaret gave her husband a puzzled look. "Rune-fervor? Why would that happen here? We don't use any quintessences, and the runes we do use are just tiny little flakes."

Her husband's tone and manner seemed to sour a little as he turned to look at her. "I've had to deal with a few ferals during my time as a Sentinel, Maggie. You may just see them as another species of humans, but they're entirely different from us."

"Stop it, Henry. We've already had this argument." Margaret shifted uncomfortably. Her husband's tone had changed so suddenly.

"I'll let the feral stay until it's able to walk. Then we make it leave, ok?"

"We'll decide that once she's awake and fully able to take care of herself, and not a moment sooner."

Margaret didn't stay to hear her husband's response, and hurriedly left the room. She went to the kitchen, found the plate of food waiting for her, and grabbed a few bites of the potatoes. She didn't bother to sit down, instead mulling over what her husband had just said.

Rune-fervor? Was that what she had experienced last night? It didn't make any sense. The tiny bit of rune energy they chose to use in the home were just little flakes embedded inside mechanistic devices, and certainly none of those flakes were used directly for organic-based magic. Rune crystals refined for use by humans were specifically called quintessences, but neither she nor Henry used them in the house - nor would they, even if they could afford those prohibitively expensive little crystals. Henry might have had exposure to them during his service with the Piltover Sentinels, but the Sentinels were primarily known for their use of mechanical devices - quintessences were more the realm of Piltover's sister city, Demacia, which had no shortage of talented quint mages like Luxanna Lightshield who could withstand the harsh effects of rune-fervor.

Margaret stabbed at some of the cold scrambled eggs with her fork, and jabbed them into her mouth absentmindedly. Henry could be so stubborn and mistrustful sometimes, but even she didn't understand his petty dislike for the ferals. Ferals were an uncommon minority in the human dominated cities of Valoran, and while they did often have odd and unpredictable behaviors, for the most part they were relatively mild mannered, and stayed out of most human affairs. She supposed the dislike was a trait shared among current and former members of the Sentinels - there had been very minor conflicts between the two groups in the past, but Henry had elected to take an early discharge from the Sentinels after attaining the rank of Captain. Regardless, she was not going to let the fox girl go until she was completely recovered and able to fend for herself. She resolved not to let henry bully her on this matter.

Feeling the fatigue of last night's rigors catching up to her, Margaret pushed the plate of eggs and potatoes away, got up, and headed towards her bedroom. She didn't bother to put on her nightgown, and simply plopped onto the bed. Her thoughts drifted to her son Roland, who was scheduled to come home later today. She started to wonder how he would react to the presence of the fox girl, but did not get to finish her thought as she drifted off into sleep.

-o-o-o-

The first thing the fox girl felt when she woke up was the dryness of her parched throat. She opened her eyes and was greeted with a blurry image of a plain, slightly mottled but smooth brown surface above her. Her right was blocked off by the same smooth surface. As she traced the two planes she could see that they connected on four points and extended to form a sort of square enclosure. In an instant it dawned on the girl that she was now inside the home of one of those tall creatures - the humans. The girl tried to get up from where she laid, but was stopped by a series of both sharp and dull aches throughout her entire body. Her muscles ached with that dull, burning sensation commonly experienced after bouts of extreme exertion.

The girl laid back down. Slowly she began to ascertain her surroundings. Parts of her body had been wrapped and bound in fabric, but they did not restrict her movement much. The girl spread the palm of her hand out in front of her face, and stared with muted acceptance at her long, delicate fingers, each of which she could move with uncanny dexterity. Fragments of memories began to take shape within her mind. She remembered her desperate flight through the forest, the throbbing pain she felt on her face, hands, feet, and body. She remembered ignoring the burn in her chest as she continued to run and leap through the forest beyond the limits of her endurance, ushered onwards by a strength she did not know she had.

The girl heard a strange noise from the far end of the room, and she turned her head in time to see a male figure enter the room. The girl widened her eyes in fear as the man took notice of her, and slowly walked towards her. She did not move from her resting spot, frozen by a combination of fatigue and fear.

The girl stared warily at the man as he approached closer, wondering what he was planning to do to her. She knew she had been unconscious and helpless for a period of time - though she did not know how long - so she was able to guess that this man was not here to kill her. She would have been dead already if that were the case. She nonetheless felt her heart begin to beat faster as the man walked up next to her. The man stared down at her with a sort of empty expression, then vocalized a series of strange sounds to her. She did not understand any of it, so she simply stared back at the man's face nervously and tried to gather some sort of emotion from his features. There were none. Then, to her amazement, the man simply backed off, turned around, and left the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

The girl turned her head back and gazed passively at the brown ceiling above her. With no one in the room and nothing for her to do except lay there, the slow realization of her current state began to creep up on her. All of her present memories were now of a life she no longer belonged to.

She recalled past mornings of her life as a fox, where she would wake up to the bittersweet smell of fresh honeysuckles blooming in the conifer forest. She would get up on all fours, arch her back, and lazily stretch out her muscles. When she felt ready, she would walk out of the cool, damp burrow in which she and her mother lived and out into the dusky forest, where beams of morning sunlight would penetrate through the canopy, forming small patches of heaven where she would sit and recline in while taking in the warmth of the sun's rays. The girl felt her chest throb with an unfamiliar pain as she envisioned her mother coming out of the burrow, coming to rest beside her, and giving her a loving nudge, prodding her on to whatever new adventure awaited them that day.

The girl tried to snap herself out of her little reverie. Although the memory was a happy one, it only made her sad, and the girl tried desperately to bury it inside herself. She did not want to think of her mother as it only filled her chest with pain and an empty longing. She tried to concentrate on the moment at hand instead. Was she a prisoner here? If she was, how would she escape her captors? Were these people related to the ones she had met in the forest earlier? She did not remember seeing on the man the distinctive blue circular symbol she had seen on the three men in the forest.

The fox girl heard more voices coming from outside her room. They were distinct - one female, one male. She turned her head towards the entrance, and saw a woman enter the room. In her right hand she held a tall, gray container. The woman flashed a reassuring gaze at the girl, walked up to where the girl lay, and knelt down beside her. Slowly she brought the tall, narrow container next to the girls lips. The girl drew back at first, unsure of what the woman wanted from her, but when she looked into the container she saw that it contained...

Water!

Remembering how dry and parched her throat was, the girl struggled onto her elbows, and gave the woman a hesitant glance. Oh, how she desperately hoped that the water was for her to drink! The woman gestured encouragingly at the girl and gave her a reassuring smile. Feeling a bit braver now, the girl leaned forward over the water container, stuck out her tongue, and lowered her head into the container, trying to lap up some of the water. To her dismay, she found that she could only slurp up precious few droplets, as the container was impossibly small. She found that she was unable to stick her tongue out far enough into the container. Growing a bit frustrated, the fox girl looked up at the woman, who had on her face a sort of amused expression. The woman gently grabbed hold of the girl's hand. The girl did not shrink back, but instead let the woman guide her hand onto the container. The container was placed below the girl's lips, and slowly tilted forward.

In a flash of realization, the girl proceeded to sit up a bit and placed both hands on the container. She opened her mouth wide, and eagerly tilted the container in so that the water gushed into her mouth. This method of drinking seemed immediately obvious to her now, but she had been so stuck in her previous frame of habit that she had not even considered other options. Now the girl drank the blissfully refreshing water with untold glee. Much of the water missed its mark and instead streamed haphazardly out of the girl's mouth and down her cheeks, but she did not care. The girl tilted the container further inward and gulped down the remaining water, and she felt a thrilling jolt run down her body as her intense thirst was finally sated.

With the water finally gone, the girl looked back up at the woman, who had been watching her with a sort of intrigued expression on her face, and sheepishly handed the now empty container back to the woman. The girl decided that she liked this woman. She didn't know how, but she felt that she knew this was the woman who had cared for her and helped her while she had been unconscious. What's more, she had this feeling of safety with this woman that reminded her of the happy memories of her mother.

The woman stood up from her chair, and began to turn around. The girl quickly realized that she was about to leave, so she let out a soft little cry, reached out with her arm, and grabbed hold of the woman's hand. Startled, the woman turned to look at the girl. The girl stared back with pleading eyes, begging silently for the woman to stay with her. She tightened her grip on the woman's hand, and tried to tug her back. With her mother gone, the girl had struggled to deal with and suppress her feelings of loneliness. Now that she had finally found someone who seemed to care for her, the girl was now terrified of losing her newfound friend. She did not want to be alone, to face those feelings of loss and loneliness again.

Looking into the girl's eyes, the woman decided to acquiesce to the girl's touching plea, and sat back down. The girl, still feeling weak and tired from her ordeals, laid down and closed her eyes. They stayed like this for awhile, the girl's hand happily latched onto the woman's, the woman looking on, until finally the girl's breathing began to rise and fall in a steady rhythm, and her grip began to relax. After making sure the girl was fast asleep, the woman carefully released the girl's hand and placed it onto the bed. She stood back up, but then hesitated for a moment. She then bent down, gave the girl a loving kiss on the cheek, and then quietly left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

The fox girl slept through the rest of that day, and for most of the night as well. When she finally woke up, she found that she was alone. The girl got up slowly, carefully testing her limbs by stretching them out. She felt a dull ache in her face and hands, and her muscles still felt sore, but it seemed manageable now. The girl perked her fox ears and listened carefully for any trace of activity outside her room.

Nothing.

The inhabitants of the house must be asleep. Curious now about her surroundings, the girl gingerly stepped off the bed, testing her balance. Once she was sure of her footing, she let go of the bedpost she had been holding onto for support, and walked towards the door. She tried to push it open, but found that it would not budge. The girl let out an annoyed huff. Why did these humans like to lock themselves inside wooden containers? What were they scared of?

She grabbed a curved handle attached to the door, and jerked it up and down. She gave the handle a strong tug to no effect. Odd. It did not seem like the woman had spent much effort opening this the other day. The handle could be pulled up or down. She decided to pull it all the way up. She heard a distinct *click*. So that was the trick! She pulled on the handle again, but the door still would not budge. Grrr! She depressed the lever all the way down this time, then pulled on the door again. To her surprise, the door popped open with no resistance, sending her tumbling backwards. She landed on her butt, bracing the fall partially with her hands. This proved to be a horrible decision. Sharp stabs of pain shot up her hands and up her arm, making her jerk her hands up and away. Owww.

The girl shuffled back onto her knees, and crawled towards the door. Grabbing onto the doorway with her fingertips for support, she pulled herself back onto her feet, then stepped out into the hallway. The hall was dim and felt very closed off. Further down to her right were two more doors, which she guessed was where the man and woman slept. No need to disturb them for now - there was more exploring to do. Down the hall to her left was another door, and further on the wall ended, allowing an opening into another room which was where light seemed to spill in from. The girl sneaked past the two doors and down the hallway, and stepped through the opening, revealing a large, well-lit room with two windows, which let in the sunlight from outside giving the room a natural, soft glow. There was a counter on the far end of the room, on top of which laid a chaotic scene of various food items as well as boxes, pouches, plates, and utensils.

Realizing now that she probably hadn't eaten for a couple days, the girl shuffled over to the counter and gazed at the various food items available. There were an assortment of vegetables she was familiar with, but the other items seemed unrecognizable and foreign to her. Being aware that there were many things in the forest that were poisonous or otherwise inedible, the girl was hesitant to try the more odd looking items, and decided to stick to what she was familiar with. She picked up a plump, fleshy red tomato, and was about to bite into it when she heard a noise in the room next to her. The girl quickly turned around. The sound seemed to come from the room adjacent to the one she was in. A wall separated the two rooms, but there was an opening at the end that allowed one to walk between the rooms. The girl pressed herself up against the separating wall to minimize her profile, then slid over to where the wall ended. The sound of a door closing rang out. Maybe the man and woman weren't sleeping after all. Brimming with curiosity, she turned to peek around the corner, and came up face to face with another boy, slightly older than her, who widened his eyes in shock upon seeing the girl before him. What instantly caught the girl's attention, however, was the red tunic he was wearing, which bore a distinct symbol on the chest.

A flaming blue circle.

Recognizing it as the same symbol she had seen on the men in the forest, the girl let out a terrified scream, and chucked the tomato she had been holding at the boy with all the strength she could muster. It struck him squarely in the face and burst open, forcing him to reel back temporarily. The girl used this chance to run back towards her room. Before she could reach the hallway, she ran into the woman. In a full panic, the girl looked up at the woman with terrified eyes, motioned towards the boy, then tried desperately to cower behind her.

The boy, still reeling from the impact, let loose a few curses and stared at the girl with a highly annoyed look on his face.

"Mom? Wha - what the hell just happened? Who's that girl?"

Margaret put a hand on the girl's shoulder, and tried to comfort her. She looked over at her son.

"She's just a guest. Are you ok, Roland?"

Roland wiped a few scraps of tomato off his forehead, and held out his finger, stained red with tomato juice. "No mom, I think I'm gonna die."

"Oh shush, Roland. What did you do to scare the girl so much?"

"What did I do? Nothing! She just attacked me." The boy stole a glance at the girl, who was still cowering behind his mother. She looked around 13 years old, but her timid demeanor made it seem like she was younger. "A feral? Who the hell is she, ma? And, um, why is she walking around half naked?"

Margaret crouched down and gave the girl a reassuring glance, and tried to calm her down. "What's wrong?" Margaret said to the girl. "Roland is my son. There's nothing to be scared of."

The girl ignored her and continued to stare at the symbol on the boy's chest. She clung tightly to Margaret's arm and whimpered pitifully.

Trying to alleviate the situation, Roland stepped towards the girl slowly, and tried to give her a friendly smile. "Hey, umm...I'm sorry if I scared you. I should have made more noise - I was only trying to surprise my parents. It's totally my fault."

As the boy drew closer, the girl let out a small, scared yelp. She let go of Margaret's hand and dashed into the hallway. She scrambled down the hall and into her room, and slammed the door shut.

Roland walked up to his mom with an amused look on his face. "So - uh, mom, can you explain why we have a crazed feral in the house?"

Margaret frowned at her son upon hearing that word. "She's not crazed, Roland. We found her outside the house unconscious and barely alive, and I decided to help her. What did you do to scare her so much, Roland?"

"Really mom, I have no idea...maybe that's how a feral reacts when they see someone extremely handsome?"

"Yeah, you look positively charming with globs of tomato on your face. Here - let me wipe that off..hold still!"

"Ah - stop it mom, you don't have to. Mom! I'll do it myself - agh!" Roland yanked the towel from his mother. She could be so overbearing sometimes.

Margaret let out an exasperated sigh, but decided to relent. She looked her son up and down. He seemed to have grown a bit more muscular since he left for Sentinel training. "You're home early...how did it go in the city?"

"It went OK, I guess," Roland replied. "They assigned me to the Sentinel Scouts trainee division."

"You don't sound that excited. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Well..it's better than being assigned to Army, if that's what you meant..."

"Oh...I remember now. You said you wanted to be one of the Grenadiers? So you could get a chance to use all their '_mega-awesome_' rune weapons and artillery, right?" Margaret mockingly pantomimed shooting a rune-bow at her son, who scoffed at her in response.

"The scouts get to use all sorts of neat weaponry too. Besides, they give all the cool missions to the scouts. When I took my leave they were sending out some of the trainees on a real search mission."

Margaret paused and stared at her son for a moment as she considered the implications of what she had just heard. "A search mission? Searching for what?"

Roland caught on quickly. "Mom.."

"What were they searching for, specifically?" Margaret interrupted. She started running through a hundred different scenarios and possibilities in her imagination.

"They didn't tell anyone not directly involved with the mission...but -"

"Roland...the girl...she wasn't scared of you - she was scared of that symbol on your chest. Your father told me when I took the girl in that he had suspected that someone or something was hunting for her..."

"And you think the person they're searching for is that feral girl?"

"Yes," Margaret replied flatly. "Roland, take off your tunic. I have to talk to her and find out her side of the story, and why the Sentinels are looking for her."

"Her side of the story? Mom - if the Sentinels really are looking for her - "

"Just do what I say, Roland. Go change, now." Margaret ignored her son's protest and headed into the hallway and down towards the guest bedroom where the girl had shut herself in. She slowly opened the door and peeked in. She found the fox girl huddled on the far corner of the room in front of her bed. She had droplets of tears in her eyes. Margaret kneeled down next to the girl and tried to comfort her. The girl shrank back and buried her face in one of her bushy fox tails.

"It'll be okay, honey. There's nothing to be afraid of..." Margaret patted the girl comfortingly. The girl looked up at her and sniffled, but remained silent. "Do you have a name? You don't have to give your real name if you don't want to. Just something I can call you."

The fox girl stared at Margaret's mouth, and narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"You don't want to tell me your name?" Margaret brushed the girl's messy and oiled hair back. As if on cue, the girl opened her mouth, seeming to want to say something.

"Ahh...ah -"

Margaret frowned at the girl. Was she incapable of verbalizing? Now that she thought about it, she had never heard the girl speak anything at all in her short time here. She must be so traumatized. Did the Sentinels do this to her?

The girl suddenly jerked in fear, tugging Margaret's arm and pointing at the doorway.

"Alright mom, I'm not a big scary Sentinel anymore." Roland, who had taken off his tunic, was standing by the doorway, looking at her and the fox girl.

Margaret turned to her son, and shooed him away. "Go away Roland! Can't you see the girl is still terrified of you?"

Roland sighed. Although he was a bit worried about what his mother was thinking just taking in a random feral girl, he still felt a bit annoyed at the fact that he and the girl seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot. He walked into the room against his mother's protests.

"Let me talk to her. Maybe we're just getting the situation all wrong." He stopped short a couple feet from the girl, and knelt down, looking her in the eyes. The girl continued to stare at the boy in silence. Roland reached into his pockets, and took out a fresh, plump tomato he had taken from the kitchen counter. "Were you hungry? I didn't mean to interrupt your breakfast." Roland gently rolled the tomato over towards the girl. It came to a stop a few inches in front of her.

The girl reached out and picked up the fruit. She held it in her hands and stared down at it for awhile. She then looked up at the boy and, with a sudden motion, drew her hand back and flung the tomato at him.

"Hey!" Roland drew backwards in surprise but the tomato struck him square in the face, making him lose his balance and fall on his butt. The tomato bounced off his head and landed behind him with a splat. The girl let out a short, almost inaudible giggle, but quickly covered it up.

Margaret burst out laughing at her son. Roland was somewhat less amused, but he gave the girl a good natured grin. "Alright, I get it. You don't like tomatoes. I don't like them either, to be honest."

The girl seemed to have stopped crying, and was staring at Roland with a sort of apprehensive look on her face. "Roh," she managed to utter out. "Roh...lan."

"Did she just say my name?" Roland looked at his mother and raised an eyebrow.

Margaret furrowed her brow, and looked down at the girl. "Don't you know how to talk? Are you just scared?" she asked her.

The fox girl stared at Margaret's mouth with a mixed look of frustration and confusion. It seemed as if she could comprehend that they were trying to communicate with her, but it did not look like she understood anything they were saying.

"Mom...I don't think this girl knows how to speak." Roland said.

Margaret turned to her son with a worried expression on her face. "I think you may be right." Although many ferals were known to speak in the ancient, base language of Valoran, communication was still possible because the more advanced human languages were merely evolved dialects from the original language. That this girl did not seem to speak at all was extremely peculiar. Where were her parents? Had she been abandoned? Was she being hunted by the Sentinels? If so, what did they want with her? A variety of different possibilities and explanations flashed through Margaret's mind, but she was interrupted by a tug on her arm. The girl opened her mouth, and patted her lips. She was hungry.

Margaret helped the girl to her feet and led her back to the kitchen. She began preparing something simple for the girl - grilled toast with honey and mashed nut butter. The fox girl used this time to eagerly go through and examine the different types of food items laid out on the kitchen counter. When her son Roland opened a cupboard and took out a basket containing an assortment of summer berries, the girl gasped in delight and started stuffing her face with blueberries and blackberries. Margaret noted how the girl seemed to be much more at ease now, but still never talked, and only used gestures and facial expressions. At one point, the girl picked up a tomato, handed it to Roland, and smiled shyly, almost as if she wanted to apologize to him for her earlier rash actions.

When the toast was done, Margaret pulled up a chair for the girl and motioned for her to sit down. The girl sat there and jabbed her fingers at the toast as if she'd never seen a piece of bread before. It wasn't until she saw Margaret pick up and eat her own toast did she finally decide to take a small bite out of her own piece of bread. Margaret half expected the girl to spit it out, but she seemed to be good humoured about it. The girl picked up a few berries from the fruit basket, spread it over the toast, and then started eating, finally satisfied with the taste. The three of them sat there eating for awhile.

"So when is dad coming back? I'm guessing he's out on a supply run?" Roland said.

"He probably won't be back for a couple hours. We had a really large batch of orders yesterday." Her husband Henry's job was, in essence, a deliveryman - he delivered various fresh foods and supplies that they grew on the the farm to the more privileged families of Piltover - it brought in significantly more money than selling them to wholesale businesses, but was also more time consuming.

Roland's face grew a bit more serious. "Mom - have you thought what you're going to do with the girl? What if the Sentinels really are looking for her? Shouldn't we turn her in?"

"No. I wouldn't turn her in even if they were looking for her. Roland, when I found her, she was in an absolutely pitiful condition. The Sentinels aren't known to be very accommodating towards even the more civilized city-dwelling ferals. Imagine how they would treat this girl?"

"But you don't even know who this girl is, or what her circumstances are -"

"And that's exactly why I'm trying to help her, Roland. I plan to go to town tomorrow, and ask some of the city-ferals about the girl. She has to have parents, or someone who cares for her. Though judging by her state, I'm not sure if she's even being cared for properly."

Roland remained silent after that. He knew his mom tended to be extremely stubborn about her ideals, and he really had no leeway on the matter. Besides, even though he was training to become part of the Sentinels, he too felt conflicted about turning the girl over to them - if they were even looking for her. There were so many mysteries surrounding this girl, and it made him nervous.

After they were finished eating, Margaret went out to tend to her farm duties. Roland decided to spend some more time with the fox girl. The girl was very receptive to him, and he spent some time trying to get the girl to talk. He would point at various things around the house and ask her what is was he was pointing at, but the girl would always just stare at the object and narrow her brow in confusion. When he finally said the object's name out loud, the girl would try to repeat what he had said, with some difficulty. Plate would became "prate", table was "tae-bal", oven sounded like "uff-en", and of course, Roland was "Roh-lan". It was almost cute in a way, like teaching a two-year old how to speak. Try as he might though, he couldn't get the girl to say her own name, even though he thought he had made it very obvious he wanted to know her name. He began to suspect that the girl did not know.

They went on like this for a couple of hours, until they had eventually identified almost everything in the house. The girl then tugged at Roland's hand and pointed towards things she saw outside the kitchen window. The girl desperately wanted to go outside and explore the farm further. They didn't get a chance to, however, because it was then that Roland's father finally came back from his deliveries, and with rather surprising news:

Jarvan Lightshield III, the mighty ruler and King of Demacia, had been assassinated by his own youngest son, Ligel Lightshield. Reports indicated he had fled east towards Noxus, and was now hiding somewhere in the great forestland south of the city of Piltover. The heir apparent, Jarvan Lightshield IV, was now left to rule a Demacia plunged amid cries of both grief and war.


	4. Chapter 4

_My father was a good king - a great king. I know you all want vengeance for his death, but understand that we must also consider the danger posed by the barbarians of Fjeljord, as well as invasions from the sea by the shadow kingdoms. I...we will send a tenth - no, I mean, a fifth of my army, and half of the Crownguard army to the front to fight Noxus. I will not be going with them - General Garen will lead in my stead. I know you want retribution, but we must tread carefully. Understand this - I am only doing what I think is right for Demacia. _

- Jarvan VI, 18 years old, speech given on the eve of the assassination of Jarvan III

**Ch 4 - Demacia - several weeks later**

The T-shaped rune silos towered high above Demacia. They were a convincing testament to the city state's wealth - each rose to a height of over 400 feet. Their metallic exterior shimmered brightly under the heat of the Demacian sun. Summers in western Valoran were almost always warm, breezy, and beautiful - which was a shame, Lux thought to herself, since she was stuck inside a stuffy little room.

She stared apathetically out the window, sorely wishing she were anywhere but here. There really wasn't anything to see out the window except the flat tops of the silos and a few clouds, but she was trying her best to ignore her tutor Lilith Aubrey, who was quizzing her on light refraction questions. A female feral servant - a half-dog with an elongated face and tufts of hair on her skin - stood by the door in silence, head bowed, waiting impassively. A sharp tap on the desk brought her back to attention.

"Luxanna Crownguard, can you at least pay attention for one question? Now, when a light beam passes through a block of ice at -2 degrees celsius, given an index of refraction of 1.307 for ice, 1.003 for air, and the equation of refraction n1 sin of theta one = n2 sin theta two, what is the angle of refraction theta two after it crosses the boundary, if the beam's initial entry point is 37 degrees?"

Lux shrugged her shoulders and stared at Lilith from the corner of her eye. "Twelve?"

Lilith sighed, and flipped a tuft of dark, curly hair away from her eyes. "Lux, you know the answer to this. I know you're leaving for military assignment tomorrow and it is hard to concentrate, but this is the last class you're gonna have in awhile. So can you please just humour me?

"Why are you asking me if I already know what it is?" Lux turned and gave her tutor a coy little smile. She began doodling on her sheet of scratch paper.

"Because rune magic boils down to knowing how to manipulate the primal forces and elements nature provides us with. You have a natural talent for light magic, but knowing 'why' and 'how' it all works is just as important as the actual practice of magic. And in battle, a split second can mean the difference between..."

Lux furrowed her brow in concentration, and continued her doodling. She drew a stick figure adorned with a mess of black, curly hair and angry, stern eyes. When Lilith had finished her little monologue, Lux looked up. "Okay, the answer is three point five seven eight."

Lilith frowned. "You're not even trying." She pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Lux. She glanced at the little doodle and rolled her eyes. "That drawing makes me look like a stern old schoolteacher."

"That's because you _are_ a stern old schoolteacher."

"And you're a spoiled little brat Luxanna. How about acting your age for once, hmm?"

Lux put down her pencil and set the doodle aside. She wouldn't have admitted it, but she liked Lilith, and in a way, looked up to her. Being the only daughter of the decorated Crownguard family, and having shown a talent for light magic at a young age, most people expected the world of her, including her parents. Lilith was one of the few who actually treated her like a person.

"And how do you expect a nineteen year old to act, Lilith?" Lux said.

"It isn't just your age. You are a Crownguard, Lux. Why, when your brother Garen was the same age as you, he led his squad -"

"I don't need to be told about my brother's accomplishments," Lux huffed. Why did everyone want to compare her to her brother? He was almost twelve years older than her - there was no way she could match his list of accolades.

"I did not mean to compare you to your brother, if that's what you think I'm doing. That man is a physical specimen," Lilith gushed. "Besides, they finally gave you an active command - it shows they are starting to have more faith in you. Who cares what your brother does?."

Lux dismissed her remark with a wave of her hand. "Yeah, they have _tons_ of faith in me. They assigned me to lead a squad of one hundred on the second relief battalion."

Lilith giggled. "And what's wrong with that? Did you expect them to give you command of an entire vanguard division and just march into battle, with thousands of lives on the line, when you can't even pay attention for two hours in class?"

Lux opened her mouth to reply, but was left speechless. She had been trying to fish for some sympathy, but hearing Lilith mock her like that made her angry. She felt ready to lead, and Lilith was marginalizing her! She wanted to get up and storm out of the room. Instead she just lowered her head and sulked.

"Oh don't pout like that, Lux. You have so much potential - you just need to start taking things seriously," Lilith said. She smiled reassuringly. "Listen - I know you have to meet with Captain Roberts in a few hours, so I think it's fair to let you out early so you can get some rest and prepare for tomorrow."

"Well, it's about time." Lux got up, and motioned to her feral servant Anne. She obediently opened the door for her.

"Good luck," Lilith called out.

"Bye Lil." Lux walked out of the room and her servant closed the door behind her. "Anne, escort me to my room. And please fetch my summer clothes." The servant complied without a word. As she followed her down the hall, she muttered silently to herself.

"Entry point 37 degrees...theta would equal .603, which means the angle of refraction is 27.5." Lux smiled. "Easy."

-o-o-o-

Lux was standing in front of the mirror in her room, fiddling absentmindedly with the pink quintessence dangling from her neck while Anne buttoned her dress from behind. It could barely be called a quint - just a tiny flake, the same size as a Demacian penny. It was really only useful for small light tricks. Despite that, she always carried it around with her wherever she went. It wasn't always practical to lug a heavy wand everywhere, and she felt naked without a source of rune nearby.

She heard someone knock on the door, and Lux directed her servant to go open it. She stared at her blonde, shoulder length curled hair from the mirror and tried to fix it up as best she could. Anne could be slow in the head sometimes, but she was a spectacular hairdresser, if nothing else. She marvelled at how Anne could turn her normally straight, limp hair into cascades of spritely little curls. She just hoped _he_ would like it.

Still staring straight ahead at the mirror, Lux briefly touched her quint with two fingers, and focused on the mirror's reflection. The light rays reflecting off the mirror shifted subtly, allowing her a full view of the door to her left. To a person unaccustomed to optical tricks, the altered view would have been disorienting, but not to her. She felt a tinge of excitement course throughout her body as she saw a young man walk in. She appraised him from head to toe. He had a lean but athletic build - not as tall or muscular as say, her brother Garen, for example - but that was a _good_ thing. His conservative, cropped hair and stubbly beard belied a glint of mischief apparent in his dark eyes. Lux found him irresistible, but she continued to stare at him secretly from the mirror's altered reflection, waiting for him to make the first move.

The young man gave a polite bow, then looked up and grinned. He side stepped quickly out of the line of view of the altered mirror. Caught by surprise, Lux twirled around. She found the young man right behind her.

"Justin -"

The man put his arms around Lux's slender waist, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips, silencing her. "Hello, my pretty little Luxanna," the man said cheerily.

Lux smiled at him sweetly, her pale blue eyes twinkling. "I've missed you, Justin."

Justin let out a short little laugh, then tugged on her hand, leading her towards the door. "Come on, I want to show you something amazing before we leave tomorrow."

Lux followed him as he tugged her onwards, but was stopped by a touch on her shoulder.

"Miss...miss Lux..." Anne said in a halting, heavily accented voice.

Lux let go of Justin's hand, and turned to look at her servant, slightly annoyed at her interruption. "Yes, Anne?"

"Miss Lux, you have meeting with soldier boss. Clock 7:00." Anne bowed her head respectfully.

"Yes Anne, I'm aware of that. I will be back in time. You may do as you wish around the house until I return." Lux turned again to leave, but the feral grabbed her hand forcefully.

"Please, Miss Lux. You leave, you always late come. Master Garen tell me, Miss Lux no leave. If leave, punish Anne. Anne no like punish."

Lux angrily jerked her hand away. "How dare you restrain me, you stupid animal!" She raised her hand as if to slap her servant, but Justin stepped in between them.

"Wait, Lux." Justin turned to the feral, who had not moved and was still staring down at the floor. "Anne, I only want to show her one last thing before we leave on assignment tomorrow. I promise you I'll bring her back in time, okay? You don't have to worry about being punished."

Anne continued to stare at the floor, and remained silent. Justin reached into his pocket and took out a gold-plated pocket watch. He opened it, then grabbed the feral's arm and placed the watch in her hand.

"The meeting with her Captain is at 7:00, right? You keep watch of the clock. If we come back and it's past 6:00, I'll let you keep the watch, no questions asked, ok?" He grinned reassuringly at Anne.

"Justin, you're being ridiculous," Lux complained.

"It's alright, Lux. Let's go."

The pair left the room, leaving Anne alone with Justin's pocket watch. The feral watched the seconds tick by as she admired its beautiful golden frame. She let herself pretend that she actually owned the valuable little accessory. Even if it was temporary, it was still the most valuable thing she had ever owned.

-o-o-o-

"Why did you give her your pocket watch, Justin? That was so silly," Lux said. She and Justin were walking down one of the main streets of Demacia, which was bustling with carts, stores, and revelers who had come out to window shop and enjoy the beautiful sunny day.

"I was just trying not to make a mess," Justin replied. "Why do you treat her so badly? Anne seems so loyal to you."

"I wasn't going to hit her, you know. I just.." Lux bit her lip in frustration. Why did Anne have to embarrass her like that? She didn't mean to get so angry, but the stupid half-dog had kept provoking her.

"Just what? Anne was right, you know. You're late to meetings a lot, and she often gets the punishment for letting you leave."

"And who's fault is that? You're the one who insists on taking me out all the time," Lux teased.

"Haha. You don't even tell me about your appointments, so how would I know if you're late for something?"

"Well, you never ask. Did you assume I just spend all of my time sitting at home with nothing to do, waiting for you to come?"

Justin chuckled. "Well then it's a good thing Anne let me know about your meeting then. I'm gonna make sure you're back by 6:00."

Lux grabbed Justin's hand. She was tired of thinking about Anne and the meeting with Captain Roberts. "You said you had something amazing to show me? Well, what was it?"

"You'll see when we get there. Just follow me."

Lux followed him as they walked down the busy street, passing storefronts hawking a variety of unique gadgets and trinkets, and others selling more basic items like breads and cheeses. Most of the commoners and revelers ignored the duo - the Western District of Demacia was known to be particularly high class - but a few bowed or curtsied out of respect for a member of the Crownguards.

Her boyfriend, Justin Altard, was from a relatively unknown family. They had met a little over a year ago, when Lux had received her commission and been assigned the rank of 2nd lieutenant in the Crownguard army. Justin had been assigned as her senior NCO.

Her superiors had initially expected much from her, but her lax discipline and immature behavior had tarnished her reputation severely. When she had sought out a relationship with her 2nd in command, it only cemented in her superior's minds that giving her a commission at such a young age had been a mistake, despite her lineage. In truth, although she disparaged it, the fact that she had been assigned command of a hundred soldiers in a reserve battalion had been an act of extreme generosity - one which no doubt had been influenced by her brother, Garen.

Justin led her down a side street leading towards one of the massive Rune silos placed at various spots in Demacia, which mined the liquid magic deep beneath the earth that provided Valoran with it's boundless energy and magic. When they reached the brick walls surrounding the silo, Justin motioned for Lux to stay silent, then led her around towards the back of the wall.

"Why did you lead me here? There's nothing to see here," Lux whispered.

Justin simply grunted, then took out a small dagger from his waist. He approached the wall and put his hand up to it, feeling for the small crack he had seen earlier. Once he found it, he stabbed the knife into it, pushing it in all the way to create a stable foothold at waist level. He took a few steps back, then rushed at the wall and jumped. Using his momentum, he placed a foot onto the hilt and pushed off it, propelling him upwards just enough so that he could grab onto the top of the wall. He lifted himself up, then looked back down expectantly at Lux.

Lux looked up at him and frowned. "It's too high for me."

"It'll be ok. Come on, jump!"

Lux had her doubts, but she didn't want to look like a coward in front of Justin, so she dashed towards the wall and jumped up. She stepped on the dagger's hilt and pushed off, but the knife wobbled out slightly, causing her to slam her knee into the wall. She cried out in surprise, but Justin reached out and grabbed hold of her hand. With a sharp tug, he pulled her up onto the wall. Once safe, Lux sat back and rubbed her bruised knee, but heard Justin laughing at her.

"Who told you to step on the dagger? That was just for me to get up. You could have just jumped straight up and I would have reached down and grabbed you," he said, still laughing.

"You're an idiot Justin. I could have done it myself," Lux said bitterly. She got up and walked past him, down along the wall.

"Hey wait up. Do you even know where you're going?"

"Of course I do. I don't need you to lead me anywhere. I'm your superior officer, remember?" she called back with a smirk.

Lux continued to ignore Justin and walked briskly along the wall. She stopped over a small storage container that had been placed up against the wall . She hopped down on top of the container, approached the edge and, ignoring the dull pain in her knee, jumped off and onto the ground. She turned and looked up at Justin.

"Well? Hurry up!" she said impatiently. She was still angry about Justin laughing at her.

She watched Justin hop onto the container and then leap off it onto the ground.

"Alright, _lieutenant_ Lux, where do we go next?" Justin said.

"We're _going_ into the silo, sergeant Try not to fall behind," Lux retorted.

She walked quickly towards one of the entry points into the structure. She could hear the periodic hum that emitted from the silo as it siphoned liquid magic from deep inside the earth up into the large disc at the top, to eventually be cooled into crystal form.

"May I offer a suggestion, lieutenant?" Justin called out from behind.

"You may, and I might even consider it."

"If we just barge in through the front door, we're likely to be caught by the workers. I have an alternate route that can let us enter undetected, but since I'm just a lowly soldier, I'm willing to defer to your wise leadership." Justin paused, then politely added, "Sir."

Lux stopped, then spun around. She was indignant. "You know, as 'impossible' as it may seem, I've _been_ inside a Rune silo before. They will permit a Crownguard inside, though I can't say the same for -"

Justin rushed forward and put a hand over her mouth. Lux started protesting angrily, but he motioned for her to be silent.

"Shut up for a second, will you? Someone's coming out."

Lux bit her lip - she had quite a few choice words she still wanted to say - but she decided to put them aside for now. The door opened, and a gruff looking worker came out, whistling a happy little tune. Lux grabbed Justin's hand. "Stay still," she whispered.

Lux grabbed the quintessence she wore on her neck, and concentrated on the light reflecting off her and Justin. She knew that people saw, for example, a green object only because that object reflects green light off it while absorbing all other colors. She couldn't just alter the angles of the light rays - if no light entered the eye, the result would make them appear as a human-shaped black stain in the air. Instead, she diverted the path of the light rays around them temporarily - kind of like how water flows around a rock in a river instead of through it. The result was that, when the worker turned his head and looked directly at where they were standing, he didn't see them - he saw the object behind them, as if nothing was there. It was all just an optical illusion, of course, but one that couldn't be sustained for long - the tiny rune flake started to shudder and grow dim. Lux pleaded for the man to hurry up and leave.

The worker squinted his eyes and stared hard at where the pair were standing. Something looked a little off - he could swear the supply container he saw over by the wall looked weird - almost as if it were slightly disjointed. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

God, he really needed to get home and get some rest. He made a promise to himself to stop working those double shifts - they were making him crazy! He walked forward, then stopped inches away from where the pair were standing. He took out a wrapped sandwich, unwrapped it, and started eating. He stared up at a couple songbirds nesting in a tree, and smiled. What a beautiful day, he thought to himself. It was a shame he still had six more hours until his shift was up. Six more hours of being cooped up in the stupid silo, stuck with the monotonous task of monitoring the temperature and conditions to make sure the raw liquid magic cooled properly to form usable rune crystals.

_Will you please hurry up and eat your damn sandwich? I don't know how much longer my quint will last! _Lux stared at the man out of the corner of her eye. He smelled like musty old clothes and dried sweat.

Finally finished with his meal, the man turned and started walking back into the building. He discarded the wrapper nonchalantly behind him. It floated about in the wind, then got caught on Justin's head. If the worker had bothered to turn around, he would have seen the wrapper just floating in mid air.

As the worker closed the door behind him, Lux's quintessence vibrated slightly, then went still, spent of all it's magic energy. It's pink glow faded and turned into a dull, translucent blue. The pair re-appeared. Lux breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Justin with a grin.

"That wrapper totally suits you," she said.

Justin snatched the wrapper from his head and threw it away in disgust. "Wow. That was just nasty." He turned to look at Lux. "So, _lieutenant,_ what about my suggestion? Shall I lead you to the alternate route so we can avoid the evil sandwich man?"

"Oh, will you stop calling me that?" Lux was trying to be serious, but she couldn't help but laugh.

"Sir yes sir. Whatever you say sir." Justin started walking towards the side of the building.

"I hate you, Justin. I mean it."

"I'm sorry, sir. I try everyday to be a better man."

Justin walked over to a small protrusion on the side of the building, then opened up a small service door. It revealed a short passage leading into the building; at the end of the passage was a ladder leading up. The pair ducked into the passage and climbed up the ladder to the second level, which was just a small room containing a mechanical elevator. They entered the elevator, and Justin started turning the lever. The elevator started rising at a steady pace.

"How did you even know there was an elevator here?" Lux asked him.

Justin grinned. "My dad used to work as a mechanic. When I was sixteen, I used to go with my dad and help him perform maintenance repairs on all the silos. Most people have only seen the first floor of the silos, but this service elevator allowed us go up to the higher floors and perform whatever work needed to be done to keep everything working."

Lux stared up, but could only see the occasional row of lights that highlighted the ground level of each floor, stretching infinitely up into the distance. Just how high did this elevator go? All the way to the top? Silos were massive structures - most rose up to a height of around 400 feet.

They passed floor after floor, until finally they reached the very top. Lux followed Justin out of the elevator and down a short, dark hallway, which led to another ladder. They climbed up to a small overhead door. When Justin reached up and opened it, a flood of blinding sunlight poured in, forcing Lux to squint her eyes as they tried to adjust to the sudden brightness.

"Come on, we're almost there," Justin called out. He climbed up and through the overhead door, and Lux followed him up.

They were outside. Lux gazed around at her surroundings. They were on top of a large circular platform. At the center were a stack of large, circular steam vents which let out the heat generated by the hot liquid magic inside. Justin walked over to the edge of the platform, and called out for Lux to come. She followed him. A few pigeons could be seen perching on the edges of the platform, cooing obnoxiously over the quiet hiss of the steam vents.

As Lux peered over the edge of the platform, she gasped, and instinctively reached out for Justin's hand. They were on the roof of the silo, over 400 feet up into the air. She felt a thrilling chill run down her spine as she peered down over the gold and blue rooftops of Demacia, which stretched out for miles until it reached the coastline of the Conqueror's Ocean. The water gave off a deep blue shimmer, with streaks of glittering pink where the liquid magic rose up from natural vents deep beneath the ocean floor, crystallizing into random, natural formations as it floated up to the surface. As she gazed at the incredible sight before her, Lux could feel a certain pride in her place of birth, one of the mightiest cities in all of Valoran.

"This is amazing, Justin," Lux cried out.

Justin smiled, and led her down to the edge. They both sat there with hands clasped, 400 feet up in the air, legs dangling perilously over the precipice. Lux pointed to a building she knew well, with it's domed golden top crested with multiple flagpoles bearing the symbol of the Crownguards.

"There's my home," she said, smiling contentedly.

"It's incredible, isn't it? I used to go up here every few days to help my father clean out the steam vents, but I usually ended up spending hours just staring out at the Demacian skyline and the countryside beyond," Justin said. "It got me thinking...what else was I missing out on? Did I want to spend the rest of my life as a silo mechanic, stuck inside one city until the day I die?"

Lux squeezed Justin's hand, and grinned at him. "Is that why you decided to enlist in the Crownguard army?"

"Yep. I didn't want to just be a nameless grunt in the King's main army. The Crownguards are Demacia's elite soldiers. If I worked hard enough, I knew it was possible with them to rise up in the ranks and make a name for myself."

Lux looked down, and bit her lip. She thought about how she never took her duties seriously, how she always took her privilege for granted. If she hadn't been born a Crownguard, she probably wouldn't have even been considered for an officer's commission. She thought of an incident Justin had told her about a few months back.

"I remember you turning down an offer to fight under my brother Garen's command a few months ago. That was your chance to make officer," Lux said. She felt a knot in her stomach as she began to realize what Justin had sacrificed for her.

Justin laughed, and squeezed her hand. "There's gonna be other chances. I just didn't want to make a choice I'll regret later."

Lux leaned in closer and placed her head on Justin's shoulder. They sat there, cuddling each other while gazing out at the vast ocean and the beautiful, sparkling city before them. Lux promised herself that she would try to take her duties as an officer and Crownguard more seriously. In truth, she had been in a sort of denial when she heard of King Jarvan III's death, but the reality was that Demacia was now at war with their longtime nemesis, Noxus. The general sentiment then had been that Jarvan VI was not ready to lead as Demacia's king, and his indecisiveness had proven costly for Demacia in the early stretches of the war. It was up to its citizens to step up.

Justin stroked his hand gently through Lux's hair, then got up.

"Come on Lux. It's gonna be time for your officer's meeting soon. I promised myself that I would get you back in time."

"Can we stay just a little longer? It's so lovely up here," Lux said sadly. She got up, and took one last look at the ocean, and sighed. "You're right, Justin. Lets go."

Justin gave her a kiss on the cheeks. Lux smiled, and embraced him around his waist. They turned to leave. Behind them, the city continued the monotonous hustle and bustle of city life. Further on, a small line of heavily armed soldiers could be seen marching quickly towards the eastern gate of Demacia, their destination and fate uncertain as the ominous portent of war lingered in each of their minds.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ch 5**

Dawn had just broke over the Piltover countryside, and the sliver of rising sun cast the entire Walker house in an eerie, dusky glow. All was silent inside, except for one intrepid fox girl walking down the hall, a tall glass of frothy, warm milk cupped in her tiny hands. Her eyes glowed a dull amber, a yellow resembling that of antique gold trinkets.

The fox girl opened the door to Roland's room and, finding him still sleeping, walked up to where he lay and leaned over him, staring at his slumbering frame. He looked so peaceful, lying there face up with his mouth half open. She reached out and pinched his nose, held it shut, and waited.

Roland shot straight up and sputtered about, crying and cursing at the sudden awakening. He rubbed his eyes, then squinted groggily at the fox girl standing next to him.

"Ari, come on, really? What time is it?" he muttered. Margaret had decided to name the fox girl Ariel, but later decided to shorten it to Ari - the girl still had trouble forming certain syllables, and a short name was just easier for her.

The fox girl grinned and held out the glass of milk in front of her. "M..mil-k Roh-lan. Drin-k. Then fffow..est," she said, with a glimmer of excitement in her eye.

Roland flopped back down and groaned. He wanted to go back to sleep. He remembered agreeing yesterday to take the fox girl out on one of his hunting trips in the Piltover forest, but he hadn't expected her to wake him up this early.

"Ah!" A sharp poke on his belly button sent him jolting up again. "Fine, I'm up, just stop doing that." He took the glass of milk from her outstretched hands and took in a big gulp. It was rich and warm, probably milked only minutes before.

When he was done with the milk, he got up and started getting dressed. The fox girl had gone out to the kitchen to pick up some nuts and fruits to pack for their trip. Roland made sure not to wear anything that contained the Sentinel insignia. While the girl no longer became panicked and terrified whenever she saw the symbol, it still seemed to make her upset, so he thought it was best to just make sure she didn't see them. He ran his hands through his short brown hair and ruffled it so it wouldn't look like he had just woken up. Once he was ready, he went to check on the fox girl.

Ari was already packed and ready to go, her little backpack stuffed with snacks for the trip. She beamed excitedly at Roland. She was positively giddy - she had been cooped up in the farm since that day when the Walkers had taken her in. It had been frustrating for her the past four days, trying to learn all the new words and human customs, and at first she had been afraid that maybe they were going to cast her out and leave her to fend for herself, but it seemed as if they were beginning to trust her and accept her, and she was starting to feel the same way about them.

She had on Roland's old clothes. They were a bit big on her, and the sleeves almost came up past her elbows, but they were comfortable enough, though she had found the tail placement awkward until she switched to a skirt Margaret had modified to fit her. The skirt was long enough to cover and hide her tails, which still had not grown to their full length.

She tugged Roland's hand and pulled him towards the door, urging him to hurry up. They left the house and headed to the storage shed. Roland told Ari to wait outside. He came out with a couple of rods, traps, and a hunting rifle.

Ari stared at the rifle in admiration. Roland had shown her what the weapon was capable of a few days back. The thundering boom it made as it fired had reminded Ari of her first encounter with human technology back in the forest - the cloaked man with the hammer, who with a single blast from his weapon had caused so much destruction and had made her run in terror. Although Ari had decided then that humans were dangerous, chaotic creatures, in truth she was fascinated by the power they wielded, and had begun to embrace her life as a human. She wanted to learn and know more about...well, anything and everything - but she often felt discouraged and limited by her inability to learn quickly enough or communicate well enough.

She followed Roland to the barn, where they kept a small stable of three horses. There was only one horse inside - two had been taken by Henry for his deliveries. The remaining horse, Alto, was a large and experienced stallion. Roland saddled the horse and filled the saddle bag, then got on. Ari leaped up behind him and scooped her arms around his waist. The horse protested at the extra weight.

"Easy Alto. It's just me and a friend." Roland leaned over and stroked the stallion's neck, calming it down.

They headed out of the farm at a steady walking pace, not too fast, but slow enough so that Ari wouldn't have problems keeping her balance on the saddle. They headed west, away from the farm and towards the Piltover forest. As they travelled, Roland quizzed her on various things by pointing to them and asking her to name them. After awhile of travelling, Ahri began growing curious as to all the tools and devices he had brought.

"This?" Ari pointed to the long poles with strings attached to them.

"That's a fishing pole. It's what I use to catch and bring home the fish that we eat."

Ari wondered how a silly little rod and string could ever catch a fish. As a fox, getting her hands on a fish was a special treat, but not something that was easily done. She remembered one time skirting up and down a small river, lunging in vain at every fish, her mouth salivating as she thought of her delicious prize, only to come back hours later hungry and empty handed. Her mother had gathered a hoard of berries and insects, but refused to give her any - her way of punishing her for wasting so much time. Fishing was something to be saved for after the real work was done. Scavenging, gathering, hunting - those were what kept a fox alive in the forest. Her mother always knew best...

"Hey Ari, what gives? You don't have to hug me so hard!"

In her reverie Ari hadn't realized she had been gripping Roland tighter and tighter. She still missed her mother whenever she thought of her, but holding Roland tight made her feel safe and happy. She smiled and squeezed harder with her arms.

"Are you trying to kill me? Gosh!" Roland started wriggling around trying to free himself. He reached back with an arm aiming to pull some of Ari's hair to annoy her, but Ari quickly loosened one arm and grabbed hold of his hair, pulling it this way and that.

"Ow! Damnit Ari, you're lucky I have to keep Alto under control you stupid little punk!" Roland pulled on the reins to keep the horse from speeding up.

"Joke-ing, Rohlan!" Ahri let go of his hair and laughed cheerfully. This was one thing foxes and humans had in common, she thought - they both loved to play and joke with each other.

"Suffocating me in my sleep, pulling on my hair, bear hugging me to death...you sure have a weird way of joking," Roland grumbled. "If you're _that_ comfortable already, we might as well go a bit faster." He grinned, and spurred the horse lightly to make it speed up. "Hold on."

The stallion transitioned into a faster, trotting gait, and Ari had to hold on tighter to keep from being bounced off. They continued on like this for what seemed like over an hour, until they reached the edge of the Piltover forest. As they neared the forest, Ari spotted two figures emerging from the trees, and Roland reigned in his horse.

The two figures approached them slowly. They looked like a couple - a slender, young woman and a large, muscled man. The man looked a bit weird, however...as if he had excess facial hair. Ari let out a surprised cry as she saw him whip around what looked like a lion's tail around his body. _This man was just like her!_

The woman walked up to where Roland and Ari had stopped, a faint, unconvincing smile on her face. She had long, wavy dark hair that went down past her shoulders, and stared at the pair with an unsettling carelessness, as if she thought they were nothing but some trivial curiosity. Ari, on the other hand, stared in amazement at the woman and the half-lion, her mind racing with questions she did not know how to ask.

Roland cleared his throat, and greeted the two. "Hello, strangers. I was simply on my way to the forest to hunt and gather some food. Unless you have some business, I'd like to be on my way."

"Oh, no, we don't have any interest in you, boy," the woman said casually. "The half-fox, however.." The woman turned to her half-lion companion. "Cyril, isn't she simply adorable?"

Cyril stared at Ari with his golden colored eyes. She could feel her heart begin to throb and ache with the desire to connect with the man before her, and she struggled to find some words to say, but the only ones that came to her were trivial: tree, spoon, table, fork. She understood more than that, but could not form them into spoken words. It had taken her so much effort just to learn how to string two words together in a meaningful way. The half-lion smiled at her reassuringly.

"Yes, she is very pretty indeed," Cyril remarked. "My name is Cyril. If you would care to tell me child, I would like to know your name."

Ari could sense that this man wanted to know what her name was. She moistened her lips, and struggled to speak clearly. This man, who was just like her, seemed to be able to talk as fluently as any human. Were there others like him? She wanted desperately to impress him, or at least not make a fool of herself. "Ah - ah...wi.." She bit her lip in frustration. "Ah..ri."

The woman let out a long laugh. It was a cruel and mocking laugh, one that sent a shiver of anger through Ari. Why couldn't she talk as fluently as that half-lion, Cyril?

"Ahri is your name, is it?" The woman turned to Roland. "You'll have to forgive me, boy. I did not know she was just a _primitive_. Cyril, lets be on our way. There is simply nothing interesting for us to see here." She began walking off, and motioned for Cyril to follow.

Cyril turned to Ari and smiled at her. Ari struggled to hold back tears. The way that woman had seemed to mock her - did they think she was stupid? Was that what Roland and Margaret thought as well? She desperately wanted to talk to the half lion, to probe his mind and find out more about herself and those like her. "Ah..." She decided to remain quiet. She was making a fool of herself.

"Child, you will have to forgive my partner's crass behavior. She means well, but she has had a rough day today." He waved respectfully at Roland. "Treat the girl well, boy. She seems to like you." He then turned and left without so much as a second look.

Roland spurred Alto further into the forest. He did not seem bothered by the encounter at all, which disturbed Ari. That word, primitive - she did not know what it meant, but the way that woman had said it, it made her feel as if she were nothing but some little plaything - some trinket that one would fiddle around with when amused only to discard it when something more interesting came along.

Roland whistled for Alto to stop, then motioned for Ari to get off. He jumped down from the horse, took a rope from the saddle bag, and tied it to a tree.

"You stay here for a bit, alright Alto? I'm gonna bring back some tasty morsels for you to eat later. Good boy." He stroked its mane calmly and smoothly. Ahri watched this in silence, and couldn't help but think to herself, did Roland view her in the same way he viewed the horse? She had assumed, or maybe wished, that she had found a new family, but in the end, wasn't she just another animal to them? Just some temporary curiosity?

"Hey Ari, what's wrong? Don't tell me you've had a sudden change of heart. Hurry up!"

Ari tried to put on a smile, and followed Roland deeper into the forest. She reached around into her backpack, took out two soft, juicy plums, and handed one to Roland. "Plum, eat-h," she said cheerfully.

"Maybe later, I'm not hungry."

Ari frowned and put the plums back into her pack. She was determined not to be just a burden to Roland. She perked her fox ears and probed the woods for any traces of sound - a crinkled leaf, a snapped branch, anything to indicate possible prey, or maybe even danger. Their walk was uneventful, to her disappointment, but after awhile they came upon a large lake. Roland sat down near the lake bed, took out two fishing poles and a small box from his bag, and set them aside. He then started rigging the poles with line.

Curious to see what was in the box, Ari opened it and peeked in. Inside were a bunch of live worms. Odd. Didn't Roland just say he wasn't hungry? Maybe he just didn't like plums? In any case, it had been a while since she'd had one, so she picked up a worm and popped it in her mouth. Nutty and chewy, just like she remembered them. She felt almost...fuzzy - a bit nostalgic, perhaps, as she reminisced about her past. She hadn't particularly liked worms as a fox, but food was food, and it had made up an important part of her daily diet. She casually picked up another worm, and was about to eat it, but Roland cried out and took her arm, stopping her.

"Holy crap Ari, did you just eat a worm? Those are supposed to be bait!"

Ari looked up at Roland, surprised. He had a horrible, disgusted look on his face. Did he not want to share his meal with her? She felt hurt, and started thinking that maybe he really did just view her as an animal. She remembered how Margaret and Roland seemed to treat the food meant for their farm animals as separate, and never "mixed" the food. She had tried to share her plum with him, and he refused - did he not even care about her enough to share his worms with her? Roland took the worm from her hand and tossed it away, upsetting her even more.

"Sssowy..Rohlan..." Ari muttered. She felt as if she had been fooling herself this entire time. What was she doing with humans anyway? She didn't belong. Humans had been responsible for killing her mother...for ruining her life! She remembered the real reason why she had wanted to come with Roland - it wasn't to go hunting. She took off running into the forest.

"H-hey, wait! Where are you going? Ari! It's dangerous!" a voice called out from behind her. She ignored it, and kept running through the forest path. She didn't want to stop, because she knew if she did she would start crying. She had tried her best to fit in with humans, to try and learn their language and manners, but everything about them was so complicated, so confusing. She wanted to just run away and be a fox again.

She burst through a strand of trees into a familiar clearing. There were no bodies or strange vortexes this time, nothing to indicate that anything out of the ordinary had happened. She tried to remember which bush her mother had come out of. She spotted it, and ran down that path, recognizing the tall oak tree she had used as support to help her stand up for the first time. She would have given up right here, if it had not been for her mother's constant prodding. She clenched her jaw in muted frustration, and continued onwards.

She ran through the barrier of plants and vines - the ones she had tripped over that first time, and looked around. It formed a small glade that was partially hidden by the walls of overgrowth and dense shrubs. She remembered it as her last happy memory of her mother, the place where she had spent her last night sleeping beside her. Why couldn't they have just stayed here? She heard a voice calling to her from the distance, begging her to come back. Was it her mother? Or was it...him? She ignored it - just like that day when she had ignored her mother's calls - and continued down the path her mother had led her.

_Go away Roland._

_I just want to be alone!_

She persevered onward, ignoring the increasingly desperate cries calling for her, and kept running until she finally reached the small stream where it had all happened. She came to a stop, and scanned the ground, struggling for breath as she tried to hold back the onrush of tears. She did not want to be that scared, crying little girl who had just sat by and watched in silence as her mother tried in vain to protect her. If only she had done something sooner...

!

Her glistening eyes froze as she saw the headless body of a small fox. The body was half eaten, and bits of fur were missing where animals and wildlife had scavenged and desecrated its body. She knelt down beside her mother. Was this all that was left of her? She began furiously digging into the ground with her bare hands, scratching and scooping away flecks and piles of dirt. She growled in anger.

_She deserved better than this. _

_It was all my fault!_

Unable to hold back her tears any longer, she let them gather up in her eyes until they formed small droplets that ran down her face and blurred her vision. It didn't matter to her - she continued to scratch and paw away at the ground through the haze of tears, stopping for nothing.

She sensed another approaching her, but she ignored him. A hand reached out. To stop her? She wanted to swat it away, but instead those hands began digging with her. Slowly the hole in the ground grew bigger and deeper. Why was he helping her, Ari wondered? Why had Margaret and Roland even taken her in? She hadn't done a thing to deserve their help, yet they fed her, took care of her like she was their own.

They continued digging for a long time. A few minutes? A few hours? She didn't know how long. Her tears dried up and exhaustion took its place, but her frustration and anger continued. She didn't know why Roland insisted on helping her. He had followed her all the way here, when he could have just abandoned her. Had she misunderstood his intentions? She didn't know, and she didn't care. Deep down she just felt glad that he was here with her. She couldn't have done this alone.

Once the hole was deep enough, Ari got up and picked up her mother's remains. She knelt down, and laid her mother to rest. She stared quietly.

_I'm so sorry. It was all my fault._

_I promise you I will make you proud. _

She yanked out a single strand of her hair, and placed it into the grave. Then together with Roland, they filled the grave back up.

It was done. She finally felt she had some closure. Roland put his arms around her and hugged her, trying to comfort and reassure her. He didn't know what this fox represented to her, but he sensed it was someone special.

There was no going back now, Ari told herself. She promised herself to embrace her life from here on out. It didn't matter if it was as a human - she felt she had a purpose. Her mother had believed in her, given her life for her, and she did not have the right to throw that all away. She closed her eyes, and bit her lip. She wouldn't cry. She was done crying.

_I love you, mother. _

_Goodbye._

-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-

Ari and Roland spent the rest of the day catching fish. Roland had led her back to the lake and shown her the worms, and how he had meant to bait them onto the hooks. Although Ari felt a bit sheepish after he showed her this, she just smiled and hugged him. It had just felt right - she had felt such a huge burden on herself the past four days, but now she finally felt like she could move on and embrace her new life.

Ari had a great time catching fish with Roland. Her first catch had been a big one - over a foot long. She had wanted to eat it then and there - but she knew Roland would freak out, so she decided to behave herself, and threw the fish into the storage box with a smirk. They ended up catching so many fish that they couldn't keep them all, and had to throw most of them back into the river. There was no time to hunt - Roland wanted to get home before dark, so they packed the fish that they had already caught, and started for home.

They rode home the same way - Roland in front, Ari behind, her arms scooped around his waist. Along the way, Ari began to feel this strange urge to snuggle her nose in his face and lick it - it was how her mother used to show her affection as a fox - but she wasn't sure he'd take it the right way. Besides, when she thought about doing it, she felt her face get all hot and red and uncomfortable, so she tried her best to put the idea out of her mind.

When they finally got back home, they found Henry and Margaret about to prepare dinner - perfect timing. Ari showed Margaret all the fish she had caught, and they picked out three different types of particularly tasty looking fish to cook and eat for dinner.

Roland went to bed early - he complained about how Ari had woken him up at five in the morning. Before Henry and Margaret could head into their room, however, Ari stopped them. She gave Margaret a big hug.

"Good nnight...Mar-gee," Ari called out happily. She finally felt as if maybe, she was really a part of the Walker family. Margaret laughed and hugged her back. When Ari tried to hug Henry, however, he just held out a hand and pushed her away, then gruffly told Margaret to come into the room. Ari felt confused about this, but Margaret just told her to go to her room and sleep.

Lying in her bed, Ari heard Margaret and Henry arguing. She wondered if it was because of something she had done. She could hear them through the walls, yelling loudly, though the words were muffled and hard to hear. They stopped after awhile, but Ari couldn't help but wonder if maybe she had done something wrong. Had she broken some human custom? Ari told herself that she would try her best tomorrow to learn as much as she could so she could fit in and stop upsetting Henry. Her eyelids began to grow heavy, and after a few minutes she drifted off into sleep.

-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-

Ari was jarred awake as a heavy, rough hand was placed over her mouth. A man picked her up, and started dragging her roughly out of her room. Ari struggled and tried to scream, but the man was much stronger than her, and began smothering her. She couldn't breathe, and started to panic. Oh, please, let go! She needed air! She frantically scratched at the man's hand in an effort to break free, but it was no use. Her lungs began to burn, and she felt herself getting dizzy. Her body convulsed in pain and fear.

Oh please, please just let go! I can't breathe at all! Ari tried to kick at the man, but she felt so weak, so confused. Her hands flopped down limp at her sides, and her vision started to cloud. She needed air. She needed air so bad...air...p-please...

-o-o-o-

-o-o-o-

Henry placed a cloth sack over Ari's head, tied it, then dragged her unconscious, limp body out of the house. He picked her up, then threw her in the back of his delivery wagon. He hitched up the horses, then headed north, towards Piltover.

He tried to ignore the guilt creeping up on him. He had told his wife repeatedly, after all, that he did not want to keep the feral in the house. That she was to stay only until she had recovered. The Piltover Sentinels had offered a reward of four hundred silver for the fox girl, and they could use the money.

Besides, ferals were considered dangerous. Although some rich families used the dumb, uneducated primeval types as house slaves, animosity between humans and ferals had been tense ever since the feral rebellion twenty years ago. Demacia, being the old fashioned, diversified immigrant city it was, still had a few free roaming ferals, but most of them lived in their own little pathetic villages and gatherings in the Valoran countryside. The Sentinels, for their part, made sure to keep their own Piltover territory free of the filth. There was a particular lion feral who still roamed the Piltover countryside causing trouble, but he was a minor nuisance for the most part.

Still, he couldn't help but feel guilty about the fox girl. What had they named her? Ari. She seemed so innocent, but he knew she would be dangerous one day. She was particularly extraordinary because of her nine tails - from what little he knew of ferals from his past experiences fighting them as a former Sentinel, their tails seemed to serve as a sort of "anchor" or connection to the rune magic flowing beneath the earth, and it allowed them to access powers and magics without needing to use quintessences. That's what made them dangerous. But it was also their weakness...

The dawn sun had begun to rise over the horizon, bringing light to the glorious city of Piltover off in the distance. It's central cathedral, the Sentinel Stronghold, had been built atop an incredibly massive and wide rune extractor, so that it rose up high into the sky above the rest of Piltover. It served as a testament to mankind's power and mastery over nature - mankind crafted and used rune magic for their own desires, and not the other way around.

Once inside the city, Henry maneuvered his wagon around the streets until he finally reached Pavel Heimer's house. Pavel Heimer was the chief scientist of the Sentinel Army, and he was the one who had offered the reward. The man was standing outside, and Henry waved and greeted him. He had on an impressive, decorated suit of armor, but it was only an illusion - his actual figure was otherwise frail and weak. His oily, black hair hung in tired little clumps which draped down over his face like little crooked fingers.

"Hello, Heimer. I have the feral, as promised."

"I knew I could count on you, Henry. You were always a good soldier." Heimer bared his teeth at Henry in a demented looking smile. "Your boy, Roland - he shows the same skill with the Rune Bow as you did. He shows promise with rune-tech too. He will go far with the Sentinels - I will make sure to put in a good word with Paladin Leonard."

Henry waved him off gruffly. "My boy doesn't need your help. Leave him out of your scheming, Heimer. Just give me the money."

Heimer quickly handed Henry the pouch of coins, then went over to examine the feral. He lifted her skirt to examine her tails, and gasped in glee.

"Nine tails. Amazing. Hee hee! She will teach us so, so much."

The fox girl began to stir about inside the wagon, and moaned quietly. "Roh...lan," she whimpered softly. "Roh..lan? Mar-gee...?"

Henry picked the fox girl up gently and led her off the wagon. The girl protested a bit, but complied with Henry's handling. She was weak and disoriented, and the bag was still tied around her head, so she likely had no idea where she was, or where she was being led.

"Heimer, I don't know what you plan to do with her, but you treat her humanely, ok? She's a feral, but she's still just a girl."

"Hen...wy? Hen..wy...scared. Dark." The fox girl seemed to recognize Henry's voice, and started to struggle, but Henry just held her tighter, tried to calm her down. Heimer just bared his teeth and nodded in anticipation. Henry tried his best to suppress his guilt, and handed the girl over to Heimer, then turned to get back in his wagon.

"Henry, you're a true patriot. Thanks for doing your part to keep Piltover strong and safe," Heimer called out nonchalantly.

Henry ignored him, and just snapped the reins, urging his horses to drive the wagon away as quickly as possible. He gripped the pouch of coins tightly in his hand, and never looked back.

-o-o-o-


End file.
